


Silence

by justabrain



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Concussions, Earthquakes, Gen, Head Injury, Minor Injuries, Unacknowledged Crush, magical star trek medicine, temporary deafness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 00:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16985046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justabrain/pseuds/justabrain
Summary: Seismic activity on the surface of a planet with a new colony catches the away team off guard. Geordi sustains some injuries and ignores a blooming crush.





	Silence

Something in the wall of the settlement building caught Geordi’s eye, and he turned to look at it. As he approached, he realized that it was vibrating ever so slightly. “Data? Come take a look at—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the floor lurched, and he fell towards the wall. “Data!” He had no idea if he could be heard above the roaring and crashing of the settlement crumbling around them.

“Geordi! The door—”

But before Data could finish, a blast threw Geordi away from the wall, and his his head whacked something behind him, and then—

 

 

silence

 

 

that continued

 

 

until he realized that the world was still moving, still collapsing around him. He saw Data move towards him and say something. Geordi tried to hear— to see what he was saying, but it was a skill he had never had any reason to develop, and Data was still talking, and all he wanted was for it to stop, for everything to stop. Feeling like a child, he curled into a ball, arms around his head. Something heavy hit his lower legs, and he cried out in pain. He could only see darkness, and the panic rising within him was beginning to win. Everything was falling apart and all he could do was lay there…

Slowly, Geordi realized that the floor had stopped pitching. What felt like long moments after that realization, the pressure on his ankles lifted, releasing a new wave of pain. He flinched as a hand suddenly touched his shoulder. There was noise, but it was far away, under water. He shook his head, and a throbbing he hadn’t noticed made itself decidedly known, and the water didn’t leave. 

“What…” The word formed in his mouth, and air left his lungs, but he couldn’t tell if he had actually said it.

There were more muffled sounds, and Geordi finally looked up and tried to make sense of the chaos around him. But the shapes were indiscernible. The only thing he could discern was that trying to focus on anything around him was like shooting a disruptor through his brain. He was about to lower his head again, when he realized that the hand was still on his shoulder. Gingerly, he tilted his head to see if he could tell who it was, and was greeted with a familiar glow. Geordi let out a shuddering breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding. _Data_. Data was safe.

Again, distant, waterlogged noises ricocheted off of his ears. This time though, he could maybe make out one of the words: _walk_. Careful to not jostle his head too much, Geordi shifted so he was closer to kneeling on all fours than the curled position from before. Data offered a balancing hand, and Geordi gratefully took it as he stepped onto his good leg. Suddenly, the room shuddered and lurched again, and Geordi stumbled, putting nearly his full weight onto his injury. He crumpled to the ground. A few seconds later, as the pain slowly ebbed again, he looked up to see Data bent over him as a sort of android umbrella. 

Once the room had stopped trembling, Data knelt beside him again and said something. Pushing himself up on his arms and focusing the best he could, Geordi tried to follow the movement of his lips, but still couldn’t tell what his best friend was saying. He shook his head to communicate this to Data, and immediately regretted it.

“I… can’t hear…”

Data’s expression seemed to change, and Geordi took that as a sign that he had heard him. Lowering himself back to the ground, he let out a breath of relief. Even if he couldn’t hear the world, at least it could hear him.

Suddenly, Geordi felt arms behind his back and under his legs, and found himself being lifted and carried. Retrieving his focus, he realized that there was a bit of a glow around him — Data. As Data picked his way through the debris and out of the building, Geordi let his head relax against Data’s shoulder. A small flutter darted through his chest and stomach, but he ignored it.

Soon, they were in an open area where people seemed to be gathering. Gently, Data lowered Geordi to the ground, which Geordi noticed was uncomfortably cooler than Data’s body had been. As the pressure of Data’s hand began to leave, Geordi grabbed it, and Data stopped. 

“Stay?”

He felt childish asking it. He knew there was no reason, other than that Data’s presence was comforting, and Geordi was scared. Data paused, then a muffled, underwater sound came that could have been “Alright.”

Eventually a nurse came, and somewhere in the process, Geordi took off his visor, and discovered that removing it greatly reduced the disruptor blasting in his brain. But this relief had one marked drawback: now, both Geordi’s hearing _and_ vision were gone. Now, he was truly helpless, truly alone, with only Data’s hand to ground him. Minutes later, a hypospray was administered, and the throbbing in his leg subsided. Data’s hands guided Geordi’s own back towards his visor, which he took as an indicator to put it back on. 

The visual cacophony returned, albeit less chaotically than the first time. Still, he used Data as an anchor, a focus point. Data pressed his combadge. Suddenly, the familiar tingling of the transporter surrounded them, and Geordi made a mental note to thank Data for telling him put the visor on first.

Materializing in Sickbay did not come as much of a shock. Data lifted Geordi into one of the biobeds. Truthfully, Geordi could have probably made it there himself, but being carried by Data was nice, so he didn’t object. Being in the familiar surroundings of Sickbay gave Geordi a framework around which he could begin to make sense of the visual cues coming through his visor. Someone — Doctor Crusher, likely — appeared over him. Geordi glanced briefly at the waves of information flowing from the hand scanner to the tricorder, then tried to see where Data had gone. Carefully, he tried to push himself up to get a better view, but he was firmly pressed back to the biobed.

“Stay still…” 

The words sounded odd, still muffled, but intelligible. Geordi breathed a sigh of relief. A few moments later, the mild stinging of a hypospray hit his neck. As its effects set in, the pounding in his head dissipated, and Geordi found that the lights from his visor had stopped moving so chaotically. 

Catching him off guard, a second hypospray was pressed into the other side of his neck. Wincing, he massaged where the injection had been. “Ow…”

And then… It was like breaching the surface of water that had been pulling him firmly, insistently down, and coming up for air. It was almost too much; he had almost become accustomed to the indistinctness of his world. Now, suddenly, everything was sharp, buzzing, humming, mumbling, and he couldn’t focus on any of it, it was all so loud.

“—rdi? Can you hear me?” Doctor Crusher asked gently.

Frowning, Geordi raised a hand to massage the ear closest to where she stood. “Yeah… What happened?”

Data’s voice came from nearby. “There was unpredicted seismic activity near the planet’s surface.” Unhindered by a nurse this time, Geordi pushed himself up to see that Data was standing near the foot of the biobed. “The building we were in was severely damaged. The initial tremors caused a minor explosion of a power conduit near where you had been standing.”

“You have a severe concussion,” Doctor Crusher chimed in, “as well as cochleoneural damage. That’s what the deafness was from. I gave you some dexamethasone, which will help until it starts to heal on its own.”

Geordi shifted his weight and winced slightly. “Anything you can do about my ankle while you’re at it?”

She smiled, and with a nod, went to retrieve the appropriate instrument.

“Data? Are you ok?”

“I am operating within normal parameters. It is you who is injured, not me.”

Looking down, Geordi cleared his throat. “Hey, uh, I noticed you protected me from other debris during the aftershock. Thanks.” He could feel his cheeks getting warm and prayed Data didn’t notice.

“I would not want to risk any further injury coming to you.”

Geordi smiled to himself. “Well, thanks anyway.”

Soon, Doctor Crusher returned and mended his ankle. “I’m going to relieve you of duty for the next two days so we can make sure your concussion and the cochleoneural damage have healed completely before you go back. Just take it easy for the next few days, alright, Geordi?”

With a sigh, he nodded. “Alright.”

“Geordi?”

Swinging his legs off of the biobed, Geordi looked over. “Yeah, Data?”

“I finished a new painting last night. Would you like to see it? It is a recreation of our time on the holodeck as Holmes and Watson.”

A spot of warmth he hadn’t realized was there grew in Geordi’s chest. “I’d love to.”


End file.
